I Know How Revolutions Begin

You them they are not

us we

telling is not

sharing a soul's understanding

of commonality 

of rowing roiling seas

of sand castles

of sunflowers fifth symphony

studying history is not just reading

the settling of old scores:

July 14, November 17, the iron bowl

a nation cannot be

built on the surrender of a people's

freedoms, simply

to have some peace of mind

democracy is not

an idle thought

whispered in the dark

of a shared nightmare

of a callow indifference.

That is how revolutions begin.

Ken e Bujold

2022

Reviews

[mattavelli]

Hello, Ken! :)
This a sort of depressing. I've tuned out politics since the last big election here, where the loser tried to declare himself emperor. The gears are frozen. There are too many people, all frustrated by the incesant buzzing and pixel flashing, and the water is full of heavy metals, and the 3rd world somehow got all the money that the billionaires dropped on the way to their spaceships. I'll be denting my sofa til football season ends, so I'll be rest and ready come spring. I hope they give me something fun to hate. Thanks for sharing.

[Ken e Bujold]

try not to be depressed Matt. This is a very simple poem at heart. The key to unlocking it is in the 2nd verse and the list of of's. Each was chosen carefully, they each relate to a specific trait that is required to have a viable vibrant community, nation, planet. If we as citizens unlock that verse, all can be saved. The rest of the poem is simply to show what happens when we sit complacently and do not try

[mattavelli]

I'll try not to be depressed if my team wins tomorrow. :)

[Ken e Bujold]

haha. and which alma mater is that

[mattavelli]

The Alabama elephants, tomorrow they will trample some hill folk.

[NeiL ArandA]

This poem reminds me of the plight of the Myanmar People despite outgun tries to fight back their oppressors. Freedom is not cheap and to some it is worth fighting and dying for.

[Ken e Bujold]

it is indeed Neil

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

It is sad that people vote against their own economic self interests repeatedly. Following for lies in the commercials funded by billionaires. The root of all evil politically and socially is money. It pays for power and a bigger say on how a government is run. Ethics and morality are talking points that very few politicians believe in or follow. The largest shift of wealth that plagues our nation was bought by corporations in the many years they funded corporate politicians to do their bidding. It is corporate politicians on both sides that have led to the erosion of our society. And all facets of its foundations and pillars that were once strong but now minutely exist. The rich want us to destroy each other over pennies while they steal us blind of everything else including our freedoms. Turn us against the bedrock of this nation which is diversity so they can get richer off the hate. CLE

[Ken e Bujold]

idea for this came from my reading Barbara F Walter's "How Civil Wars Start" in which she illustrates that the modern civil war is not a class struggle of economics anymore, rather it is a loss of influence power by one segment of society as another gains more rights and access to political structures. You should read it, it is short but rather interesting read on the shifting paradigm and the perils some of the worlds long standing democracies are moving towards

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I would disagree with Walter's assessment. It has everything to do with money. If a segment of our populace were not suffering from extreme poverty would their views be pernicious extreme against minorities who they blame for their economic difficulties or loss of political power by believing in replacement theory as well? Such commentators should be more empathetic towards not just societal class but culture and environment of individual voters within a society. Their circumstances are as diverse as there ethnicities. I think that the mistakes some make is generalizing the middle class as a segment. What is middle class to a Caucasian family is not the same for a family of color. The same applies for education as well. One sociel experiment revealed quite a lot on the subject. A black family attempted to sell their home. They were giving what the believed was axvery low value for the property. They asked a Caucasian friend to pretend they owned the property and the valuation increased drastically. Monetization is as unequal in our society as other facets. We must ask ourselves why? How how this is allowed to be permissible. Gentrification is not an illusion but more rampant than we want to believe. Education should be equal in our society but is not. We have to ask ourselves why? When state governments can siphon out money allotted to them for social programs and apportion it to friends and family as we see in the Brett Farve scandal we have to ask why? I deplore conspiracy theories. Not a fan of them. But some whether by accident have a minute kernel of truth. Not all mind you but a very small sum. Today I thought what is the opposite of "woke"? It's ignorance, or to put it bluntly...stupidity. I feel one who has never walked in the shoes of the disenfranchised should probably not speak for them in generalized terms. Because our society isn't a one fits all. It is more diverse and unfortunately unequal. I'm sorry if I have ranted a bit. I just know these things because I lived them. That was my education. Thank you Ken for sharing your poem with us. It starts a difficult conversation we need to have as a nation who prides itself on its diversity but reveals itself to believe in its equality aspirations. CLE

[Ken e Bujold]

until i read her book i would have wholeheartedly agreed with you. But data is quite interesting on how and why civil wars occur in the modern age. It won't be the war of 1861, or 1917. More akin to guerrilla warfare, undercutting of society's underpinning from values and confidence in gov't through sophisticated use of social media and small leadership cells. Think somalia, iraq most maliki, even afganistan that is what is coming down the pike, not pitched battles between recognizable forces on a field of battle

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Without a doubt that is how a modern day civil war will occur. But I'm only speaking towards its cause and roots. I don't think our civil war ever ended to be honest. Because we still tolerated the insurrectionist and didn't cast them out of our society. They were allowed to still vote and run for office, though many hid their true intentions to keep from being barred. We never truly resolved any of the issues that caused that war with the exception of slavery. It permeates in much of the mindsets as those terrorists like Timothy McVee and his ilk. It only seems to change slightly to make it more digestible to those who believe in the insurrectionist of today. Our nation will destroy itself not by a full war but a covert one. The insurrectionists of today know they can't win against a modern day army. It will be by propagandist and smaller targeted assaults that eventually lead to capitulation. And the failure of government to protect its people. A very slow moving coup.

[Ken e Bujold]

I agree the failure of reconstruction, allowing "the noble cause" to be reimagined as something other than a war fought on the issue of slavery, jim crow and BLM today all point to race as a still very live wire in your country. But McVee was a precursor to something different. Today's neo-nazis are not about subjugating races, they are about cleansing races, genocide. If you follow the chats of far right websites it is clear that they want a new order, and that their vision is one of a nation without democracy, where they rule by authority of force and submission. Jan 6 was but a warm up for what they seek to achieve. The methods they will use are not ones most citizens are aware of, and until and unless we educate ourselves on them the danger of their winning is very very real

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I agree and the warning signs are as subtle as they are revealing. Their praise of a leader like Putin or Orban who espouse the relevance of an ethno white Christian nation should alarm us all. When Carlson holds these vile characters as role models to how the United States should be run then we have problems. Especially when they hide behind the ideas of freedom that they seek to suppress in order to achieve their goals. Propaganda should never be permissible in a country like ours. There should be regulations against this type of insidious rhetoric on the air waves of our media. It is very destructive and a danger to us all.

[Lorry]

And very apt for today, depending on your geography
Over here, we have the worst government in the history of governments, with a prime minister without power, who is missing in inaction, probably doing so many more u turns, she's stuck in a car park somewhere doing donuts in her car.
And believe me when I say the worst government ever. She makes the previous incumbant, Boris the buffoon look like Mister sensible. 😊

[Ken e Bujold]

really? I just thought Liz was dum to Boris dee, both resemble tweedles from afar

[keith]

most revolutions end in massive bloodshed of those following the power greedy wanta be dictators of the world
should they be victorious vengeance is the wrath upon their foes
no one escape the horrors of war

as long as there are humans there will never be an end to one revolution after another after another
as long as there are humans there will never be a lasting peace

democracy is action

good write bringing thought and pause to such important event

[Ken e Bujold]

thanks for visit keith. Poem was brought to mind by my recent reading of Barbara F Walter's book "How Civil Wars Start" which sort of threw a lot of the notions most of us hold on the origins of civil wars on the the rubbish heap. I found the book and the ideas it introduced to be somewhat of a full meal. This poem is my burping up of that

ken

[keith]

there does seem to be a general rewriting of events
we will just have to take it as it comes and if it comes BIG ... we wont know!
we do need to be vigilant ... just so we know when to roll out a fatty grandoto
it's probably gonna be a better movie with enhanced senses
i got my spot picked out already! HA!

what a better autobiography it could be if we weren't so human

[Neville]

I know precisely where ya coming from Ken 10/10 but try telling that to Priti Patel .... Neville :)

[softlyfall]

Muse, Revolution, one of my top 100 songs
They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I'm waiting for the revolution of individuality where everyone is examined by their own personal merits and virtues or lack thereof; where individual character and personal principles determine the worthiness of honor or the right to govern through constitutional equity. The lawyers and the politicians would be the first to fall, followed by the doctors and the clergy. All the presupposed prejudices would be swept away by the acceptance of the individual as the epitome and zenith of freedom. But I won't hold my breath while I'm waiting.

[Ken e Bujold]

while i understand the heart of your argument, and share a bit of the libertarian streak, I do have one question: if every man is the epitome and zenith of freedom, where does one man's freedom end when confronted with another's? A society in which we are all free to do exactly as we please with no sense of needing to reach comprise is not a society, its an anarchy.

ken

[Fabian G. Franklin]

Hence, the "constitutional equity" that I referred to is needed to insure that one's personal rights do not infringe upon those of another or vice versa.

[John the Baptist]

Actually, a good portion of history is the settling of old scores. If the Germans weren't so pissed about the Versailles treaty, Hitler might have been put out to pasture. And of course the British, the French and the Spanish were frequently trying to get even about something. I agree that democracy is not an idle thought, but with the rise of the autocrats lately, it may be an endangered one.

[Ken e Bujold]

not saying its not John, but at that time and place they were in their present creating their own hells. If all men wish to do is read history as a settling of old scores, without the necessary effort to fix the lessons of the past in a context that illuminates are present circumstances...we are doomed to repeat the misery of the past. I know, I know, the old tired trope of history repeats: it is one of the most misused tropes as far as I am concerned. History is what was, the present is what is, and we are our own angels of destiny. Whatever the future holds is because we made it. In the current days of civil discourse I believe we are treading a hazardous road due to a willful indifference to reason, and where it might just lead us. Freedom is said to be a right, but in fact it is a privilege that has to be earned and guarded at all times.
ken